


Smiles and Almosts

by specificskillset



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-12
Updated: 2013-06-12
Packaged: 2017-12-14 17:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/839478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/specificskillset/pseuds/specificskillset
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It came imperceptibly, as this kind of thing often does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smiles and Almosts

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thanks to my lovely beta - and the person who requested this - Mel (mybrainandstuff over on Tumblr), this would never have happened without her.

It's weird, the way it happens. Meg couldn't quite pick the point when it started. She remembers their first kiss, of course, but it started before that. She wasn't sure if Veronica had known, if either of them had, but it had started before that. There had been looks and smiles and almosts, too many to ignore. But they'd started imperceptibly. 

And there had been questioning, nights and nights of being scared to even think about Veronica that way, not in that house (she couldn't call it hers anymore but it was only sometimes that she cared). 

And then had come that one smile. The hint she finally took, the one where she couldn't help it. The one where she just thought fuck it. Fuck her parents. Fuck it all. Veronica had smiled and she had melted and their lips had met and it changed everything. 

Meg didn't want to tell. It was secret, special. Safe. And Veronica hadn't minded. No one was surprised to see the two of them walk into the bathroom and lock the door anymore; it happened to Veronica all the time. Some other poor soul needing saving. Only the reasons were different nowadays. 

Duncan had been the first to find out. He hadn't seen, or heard, anything. He just knew. They walked into school one morning and he'd looked over and he knew. And they could tell. 

So Veronica marched into the bathroom and told him. _Meg wants no one to know, no one knows._ And Duncan had known them both well enough to realise that you do what they want. 

Keith had known too. _He'd_ known by accident. It was late on a Friday and he was supposed to be across the country doing god-knows-what, Veronica hadn't been very clear. Coming home from Arizona to them making out on the couch had been a surprise. 

But he got over it quickly enough. The more Meg visited, the more she liked him. He was warm and and sung 80s songs to them and yelled across the house about keeping the door open. He'd open the door with a dorky line and Veronica would roll her eyes and Meg would just smile and return his fistbump on the way in. 

She was jealous of Mac at first, she had to admit. She saw Veronica across the parking lot with her, them leaning in and making jokes. She didn't know Mac, but she seemed attractive, and easy to talk to. And Veronica was never quite clear what exactly they talked about. Not that Meg had really tried to ask. 

But then she did. Simple as that. It was late and she was tired and it slipped out as she stared at Veronica's ceiling. 

_Me and Mac? No, no. She's just my illegal computer hacker person, that's all. I promise. Detective stuff._

And then Veronica had made it a point to introduce them. And Mac was friendly and smart and as easy to talk to as she seemed. Meg didn't know if Mac could tell (she probably could), but if she did, she was cool with it. Mac seemed like she was cool with a lot of things. 

Meg started coming along to the meetings in the parking lot, in the school computer lab, and she began to learn. Nothing had happened between them, nothing would, she could see that. It was even fun sometimes.  

The detective stuff took some getting used to. She had known what Veronica was, what she did, for as long as she had known her, but seeing it was different. Watching her search for cars on the internet and pretend to be the receptionist from the police department and try and get good shots of couples in motels at night. It was different. 

Good different, most of the time. Like the time they'd almost been caught and Veronica had been almost a superhero and lied her way out, with a charming smile. 

 _You know me, Meg. Cool as a cucumber,_ she'd smiled on their way home. There'd been a lot of kissing after that. 

But there was bad different too. Like when Mac came up in the hallway to tell them that the email she'd hacked belonged to a member of the Fitzpatricks. Or when Veronica had tried hitting up the Navarro kid for information. Veronica had explained why that one wasn't scary. But it was. 

It wasn't easy to get used to. But she did. 

Meg's parents had found out months after it started. Meg was quite proud of that. Veronica had laughed at her when she'd admitted it, but she was. 

There wasn't much laughing after they found out. 

They'd searched her texts. Meg had been so careful. Extra laptop, secret spot in her closet, alibis for everything. She'd cleared out her phone, every text from Veronica went into the trash after a reply. Almost every.  Every except that one time when she was in a test and she'd read it and smiled and forgotten about it. 

Her parents were sitting at the dinner table the next morning, all folded hands and frowns. 

'Meg Manning.' Her father had said slowly, so close to boiling point. 'Sit down.'

And she had, quietly, carefully. 

'What is this?'

_See you at mine tonight? x_

It was nothing, easy to explain away. But her father had terrified her and she froze. 

'Meg!'

She stuttered out an answer, she couldn't remember what. The whole day turned into a blur. He'd screamed and yelled and she'd gone upstairs at some point, into her closet. But Veronica had taught her how to pick locks and she packed her bags and left that day.

She turned up at Veronica's door in the rain, which was somehow hilariously poetic. Keith had answered the door. She had fallen into him and he'd caught her. From that moment on, she'd always trusted him to catch her. 

Veronica was on her way to Meg's house, he'd explained, after a day of frantic texts and tears. He'd called her as soon as Meg was comfortably on the couch. 

There was lots of cuddles after that, and no school the next day. 

There'd been legal stuff, and the police involved and her parents faces on the news. But Veronica had worked her magic, and somehow convinced the Sheriff to sweep it under the rug, to sort something out. _Who knew Lamb could be sympathetic?_  

Keith had been nothing but good after that. In a few short weeks, he was more the dad than her biological father ever was. Odd how that can happen. Meg had always been a believer in the idea that you can build your own families. The alternative, that she was stuck with her biological parents for the rest of her life and no one would be able to take their place? Wouldn't be able to be as close as family were supposed to be? That wasn't something she could accept. But she'd never found proof of it until she'd met Keith. 

They'd made breakfast together once. It was an odd sort of morning, following an odd sort of night, where Veronica was staying with a friend of a friend and neither of them were quite sure where she was. They'd both been worried and quiet and not quite able to trust Veronica's calming voice on the phone. But they'd stayed put. Slept the night, fitfully, but all the way through. Woken up, dressed for the day. Made breakfast. Normal stuff. Or they tried anyway. Meg buttered her toast as Keith sighed over the orange juice and then suddenly his hand was on her shoulder. She leaned back into him and his arm went around her. 

 _I raised her better than this,_ he said dejectedly, shaking his head. And she couldn't quite tell how much he's joking, but she laughed anyway and he smiled back. _You have a good day at school. No smoking or vandalism or anything the cool kids do these days.  I'm still hoping you'll rub off on her._

 _I'm trying,_ she smiled as she left. 

Veronica had returned the next day to stern looks from the both of them. She couldn't help laughing, the two of them with the crossed arms and the identical frowns. 

_I won't do it again, I promise._

And they even roll their eyes together. Veronica giggled as she pulled Meg to their room. _I'm sorry_ , she says between kisses, and eventually Meg let it go. 

So her and Veronica continued. They started holding hands in the hallways. People were mostly too scared of Veronica to say anything. Well, except for Logan, who wolf-whistled and made dirty comments whenever he saw them. Meg never knew what to say, but somehow Veronica always did and they'd walk away smiling. 

They didn't usually fight. They had little bouts, where Meg would yell and Veronica would bite and Keith would end up somewhere awkwardly in the middle. They lasted hours maybe, and then there'd be an accidental smile and it would all be fine again. There'd only been one that mattered. 

It was a warm day. Nothing too out of the ordinary, just a school trip, some baseball thing that she really wasn't too concerned about. She was going for Veronica, really, because Veronica made most things more fun. But they'd fought that morning in the car to school. Another meaningless fight, about something she couldn't even remember, something little, something stupid. 

She ended up going to spite Veronica. _I'm just as strong as you._

She didn't see Veronica after the rest stop. She almost didn't care. There was a flicker of worry, but this was Veronica. The girl who, if nothing else, could look after herself. She tried not to dwell on it, and it worked for a while. 

Until there was a bang. 

There was fire and light and screaming. 

And water. 

So much water. 

_Veronica._

_Where are you?_

She would've said goodbye if she'd known. 


End file.
